In class we have been discussing how much society has become like the book. This is meant that our technology has grown so much and that we might need to censor somethings. As Americans we do not have much restriction on what we see, therefore we have a hard time processing the important information. In the book the people are only allowed to read what is printed and if a mistake is made then the Ministry must fix it. Everything has to reflect the leaders in a way that makes them seem perfect. Although we do not do that today it has been done in the past; an example of this would be with Stalin. We have also been discussing the types of countries that have been made up in the book. George Orwell makes three large countries and they are constantly at war without helping the other countries out. Every country is self sastained. The world has not yet come to that because America still relies on other nations for imports and even to export. Our economy runs off of the help of the other economies. However, America is trying to become more self reliant to help boost our economy. The group does not believe that the countries will ever become too isolated from the others and never willing to rely on anyone else for imports of goods.
Summary -
The first 33 pages -
The main character, Winston, lives in a society where he is constantly watched. There are cameras in his apartment, work place, and in the streets. This society has zero privacy; every action made is being watched. Winston writes in a diary but he has to be careful because that is illegal. However, this gets confusing because there are no laws but life is very strict for the citizens. It seems to be a dictatorship but to the extreme. Big Brother is always watching the people and most people work for the ministry. There are four ministries, which act as the government. They are the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love, the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry of Plenty. The group is not sure but we think that every day the people meet for the Two Minute Hate. This is where the TV’s or screens that watch you show a picture of the rebel, Goldstein, who betrayed the country because of his thoughts on freedom. Everyone hates him and does not speak of the brotherhood, which he is referred to. Winston does not believe in the views of Big Brother but he is not sure on his feelings of the brotherhood but he does join in on the hate so that no one catches on to his thoughts. If a person rebels against the government then he or she is “vaporized.” This is where the thought police come in the middle of the night and take you away to prison but everything about you has been erased; thus causing one to be vaporized. The language Newspeak is referred to a fair amount in this section and this is the language that the people have learned. This civilization is one who strongly believes in war. The motto of the country is: War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength
Pages 33 - 66 -
Winston wakes up and he has to start his daily routine. Every morning the people have to do a work out according to their age. The instructor is viewed over the telescreen and can watch everything you do. Winston is trying very hard to control his facial expressions because one wrong look can put you in jail. Once Winston gets to work, the readers are finally able to see what he does all day. He is to make corrections to the newspaper because something Big Brother had said was wrong and needed fixed. Essentially Winston has to fix the errors in the paper to make it look like Big Brother is perfect or that the rations are not being cut. He has to make the society's news seem perfect and that the leaders are always right. During lunch time we are introduced to Syme, Winston's best friend, who works in the department that makes the Newspeak dictionary. He tells of how in the year 2050 all the Oldspeak will become Newspeak and how the leaders are always right. Towards the end of this section we find out that Winston has a wife but they are separated because divorce was not allowed. Winston tells of how sex is looked down on and that in order to reproduce one must be inseminated. The main reason that Winston and his wife separated was due to the fact that she would not sleep with him. Even as a married couple sex was something that you did not due. Winston also says that he will be vaporized along with Syme because they do not live life exactly like Big Brother likes. They are not perfect and they live life so that they do not get in trouble. However, Parson, Winston's neighbor, will never be killed because he lives life and believes everything that Big Brother says as the truth.
Pages 66 - 99 -
Winston goes into details about his wife and their life together. He writes this down in the journal but does not seem too happy about the facts. He wrote to see if this would make him feel better but it did not. Eventually, Winston becomes curious about what life was like before the Big Brother. He starts to think about the proles and their lifestyle. The Proles are a group of people who are able to live life pretty freely. They are not looked over by Big Brother and the thought police rarely visit them. Winston leaves work and instead of going to the community center he walks around. He ends up in the proles part of town and he ends up in a neighborhood where he gets stared at for being. Before he realizes it the area is being bombed but he was able to get down. Winston then decides that he will go into this pub because he sees an old man who has not been wiped out yet. He goes to talk to the old man to see if he thought that life was better before Big Brother or after. The old man is not very helpful and Winston just ends up frustrated. Once Winston leaves the pub he walks towards where he bought his dictionary and there he starts to talk to the man about the things in the shop. The old man shows him the upstairs where he used to live but is now trying to sell the furniture. Winston thinks about renting the space from the man because it is not monitored by a telescreen. He finally decides that it is too dangerous.
Questions/Thoughts –
First 33 pages –
Was the city at one time London but then taken over and turned into this new city?
This seems to be what George Orwell pictured for the future in about 1984 because of the title.
We thought it was a little ironic how much the society was in comparison to the colony we built. What does there slogan mean? Will that be explained? – We think it means that war is the answer to all the problems, that to be free means that you have to follow laws so then you are like a slave to the country or city, and to be ignorant is to have strength because you are willing to take what you want and not care about others feelings; you can be tough.
Pages 33 - 66 -
Why is Big Brother so controlling? - He wants his people to be perfect and it was his way of creating his own society There was a political cartoon in the newspaper about the book and referring Big Brother to be google.
Pages 66 - 99 -
Will Winston finally decide to get the apartment areas? - No because it is too dangerous and he could get caught by the thought police. Who exactly are the Proles? - The group believes that they are poor people who are not worthy of being in the Big Brother Society. Who decided that the Proles get to live more freely than the rest of the society? - Our group cannot seem to decide but we think it might be due to their heritage or ancestry. There might be some prejudice from Big Brother so that is why he made them so low in society.
1984
George Orwell
Earth Colony Two will be reading 33 pages every night!
This is to ensure that we have finished the book by Tuesday, March 13. Monday, March 12 will be the last day of reading!
Colors -
Red = Heading/ Title
Blue = Important group information
Yellow with Grey = Key points
Lime Green = Important questions/ Ideas
Final Project -
Class Discussions -
In class we have been discussing how much society has become like the book. This is meant that our technology has grown so much and that we might need to censor somethings. As Americans we do not have much restriction on what we see, therefore we have a hard time processing the important information. In the book the people are only allowed to read what is printed and if a mistake is made then the Ministry must fix it. Everything has to reflect the leaders in a way that makes them seem perfect. Although we do not do that today it has been done in the past; an example of this would be with Stalin. We have also been discussing the types of countries that have been made up in the book. George Orwell makes three large countries and they are constantly at war without helping the other countries out. Every country is self sastained. The world has not yet come to that because America still relies on other nations for imports and even to export. Our economy runs off of the help of the other economies. However, America is trying to become more self reliant to help boost our economy. The group does not believe that the countries will ever become too isolated from the others and never willing to rely on anyone else for imports of goods.Summary -
The first 33 pages -
The main character, Winston, lives in a society where he is constantly watched. There are cameras in his apartment, work place, and in the streets. This society has zero privacy; every action made is being watched. Winston writes in a diary but he has to be careful because that is illegal. However, this gets confusing because there are no laws but life is very strict for the citizens. It seems to be a dictatorship but to the extreme. Big Brother is always watching the people and most people work for the ministry. There are four ministries, which act as the government. They are the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love, the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry of Plenty. The group is not sure but we think that every day the people meet for the Two Minute Hate. This is where the TV’s or screens that watch you show a picture of the rebel, Goldstein, who betrayed the country because of his thoughts on freedom. Everyone hates him and does not speak of the brotherhood, which he is referred to. Winston does not believe in the views of Big Brother but he is not sure on his feelings of the brotherhood but he does join in on the hate so that no one catches on to his thoughts. If a person rebels against the government then he or she is “vaporized.” This is where the thought police come in the middle of the night and take you away to prison but everything about you has been erased; thus causing one to be vaporized. The language Newspeak is referred to a fair amount in this section and this is the language that the people have learned. This civilization is one who strongly believes in war. The motto of the country is:War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Pages 33 - 66 -
Winston wakes up and he has to start his daily routine. Every morning the people have to do a work out according to their age. The instructor is viewed over the telescreen and can watch everything you do. Winston is trying very hard to control his facial expressions because one wrong look can put you in jail. Once Winston gets to work, the readers are finally able to see what he does all day. He is to make corrections to the newspaper because something Big Brother had said was wrong and needed fixed. Essentially Winston has to fix the errors in the paper to make it look like Big Brother is perfect or that the rations are not being cut. He has to make the society's news seem perfect and that the leaders are always right. During lunch time we are introduced to Syme, Winston's best friend, who works in the department that makes the Newspeak dictionary. He tells of how in the year 2050 all the Oldspeak will become Newspeak and how the leaders are always right. Towards the end of this section we find out that Winston has a wife but they are separated because divorce was not allowed. Winston tells of how sex is looked down on and that in order to reproduce one must be inseminated. The main reason that Winston and his wife separated was due to the fact that she would not sleep with him. Even as a married couple sex was something that you did not due. Winston also says that he will be vaporized along with Syme because they do not live life exactly like Big Brother likes. They are not perfect and they live life so that they do not get in trouble. However, Parson, Winston's neighbor, will never be killed because he lives life and believes everything that Big Brother says as the truth.Pages 66 - 99 -
Winston goes into details about his wife and their life together. He writes this down in the journal but does not seem too happy about the facts. He wrote to see if this would make him feel better but it did not. Eventually, Winston becomes curious about what life was like before the Big Brother. He starts to think about the proles and their lifestyle. The Proles are a group of people who are able to live life pretty freely. They are not looked over by Big Brother and the thought police rarely visit them. Winston leaves work and instead of going to the community center he walks around. He ends up in the proles part of town and he ends up in a neighborhood where he gets stared at for being. Before he realizes it the area is being bombed but he was able to get down. Winston then decides that he will go into this pub because he sees an old man who has not been wiped out yet. He goes to talk to the old man to see if he thought that life was better before Big Brother or after. The old man is not very helpful and Winston just ends up frustrated. Once Winston leaves the pub he walks towards where he bought his dictionary and there he starts to talk to the man about the things in the shop. The old man shows him the upstairs where he used to live but is now trying to sell the furniture. Winston thinks about renting the space from the man because it is not monitored by a telescreen. He finally decides that it is too dangerous.Questions/Thoughts –
First 33 pages –
Was the city at one time London but then taken over and turned into this new city?This seems to be what George Orwell pictured for the future in about 1984 because of the title.
We thought it was a little ironic how much the society was in comparison to the colony we built.
What does there slogan mean? Will that be explained? – We think it means that war is the answer to all the problems, that to be free means that you have to follow laws so then you are like a slave to the country or city, and to be ignorant is to have strength because you are willing to take what you want and not care about others feelings; you can be tough.
Pages 33 - 66 -
Why is Big Brother so controlling? - He wants his people to be perfect and it was his way of creating his own societyThere was a political cartoon in the newspaper about the book and referring Big Brother to be google.
Pages 66 - 99 -
Will Winston finally decide to get the apartment areas? - No because it is too dangerous and he could get caught by the thought police.Who exactly are the Proles? - The group believes that they are poor people who are not worthy of being in the Big Brother Society.
Who decided that the Proles get to live more freely than the rest of the society? - Our group cannot seem to decide but we think it might be due to their heritage or ancestry. There might be some prejudice from Big Brother so that is why he made them so low in society.